1:11:27 - Real quick before I go: Thanks to Leigh Walton at Top Shelf for sending me a copy of Alex Robinson's Lower Regions, Wits and Wagers is part of the continuing trend of cool board games showing up on XBox Live Arcade, and more Delta Green is on the way thanks to non-traditional sales and revenue models.

2:16 - There's a bit of silliness at the beginning, including Ryan naming me Mastermind of the Year for 2007, but eventually we get around to talking about the Nerdly Beach Party 2.

11:20 - Ryan talks about his experience with playing 1001 Nights, and we spin off on the idea of revisiting games and single-session play.

16:57 - Ryan waxes nostalgic about Unknown Armies, and we talk about goal-oriented play and design.

23:27 - I talk about my group's Burning Empires game, the way we use interstitial scenes, and how we sometimes move the emphasis off of conflict.

34:42 - One of the things I've learned in that game is that you should never have a Duel of Wits that you're not willing to lose. Embracing that possibility, however, can generate great drama.

39:29 - While both Ryan and I really enjoy games like Burning Empires and their goal-oriented style, we also really enjoy A Penny For My Thoughts, which like 1001 Nights, is not a strongly goal-oriented game. We talk about what it is about these more collaborative storytelling games that grabs us, what we've learned about playing them, and how that can leak out into games like Dirty Secrets.

1:43 - Delta Green is a classic 1990s campaign framework for Call of Cthulhu, as detailed in Delta Green, Delta Green: Eyes Only, and Delta Green: Countdown. What would I do with it? Listen and find out.

1:33 - Ken and I weren't able to do this at GenCon last year, as he was at Ropecon in Finland. He's glad to be back.

3:34 - Both of us were tremendously impressed by Jason Morningstar's Grey Ranks, a game about the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.

6:12 - Ken got a glimpse at Julia Ellingboe's Steal Away Jordan, a game about slavery in the antebellum American South. I had the opportunity to play in a demo of it, and it deeply affected me as well.

10:13 - I tried to pick up The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane from Pinnacle, but it was sold out.

12:49 - Both of us have had a chance to look at Blossoms Are Falling, the newest supplement Burning Wheel supplement, covering Heian-era Japan.

13:47 - We talk about the Ashcan Front, using Paul Czege's Acts of Evil as an example.

16:09 - Oh yeah, and Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition was announced, but we don't know that much specific about it. That doesn't stop us from speculating.

20:33 - Edited by James Lowder, Hobby Games: The 100 Best is a great collection of essays by one hundred game designers about their favorite games. We recommend it, and not just because Ken is one of those hundred.

23:58 - Both us were jazzed by different parts of Post-Apocalyptic Hero, the latest Hero System genre book.

0:33 - Welcome to episode 100! GenCon was a great time, not only because of the roast we recorded for this episode, but also because Have Games, Will Travel won the Gold ENnie for Best Podcast. Thanks to all of you for support.

16:42 - I bring up the issue of sharing cool ideas immediately rather than hoarding them.

22:57
- We talk about vastly different role that endowment plays in improv
and gaming, and Remi points out a clever twist on how to use it
effectively.

30:48 - Remi brings up "I'm going to make you
awesome" as a great tool in both improv and roleplaying before we sum
up. I then go off on the new improv format my troupe is trying out and
how it’s a lot like roleplaying.

37:29 - With my conversation with Remi concluded, I disclose my plan for recording episode 100 at GenCon. Ryan Macklin of the Master Plan
podcast will be the Master of Ceremonies and Roastmaster. Even if you
can't be there, please send along emails and audio clips to havegameswilltravel@gmail.com.

7:25 - With that out of the way, Fred gives us the scoop on the Indie Press Revolution booth, while I talk about the joy of giving Luke Crane his Origins Award for Burning Empires. This led to a discussion of this year's voting procedure for the Origins Award and how important activism was.

37:46 - After a brief digression about the glories of the North Market, Fred talks about playing a few after-hours RPGs with Jared Sorensen, and we talk about what makes Origins a great experience (as Ken and I discussed last year).

42:14 - Chris and I got to shoot things in TerrorWerks. Ken manages to relate this to the Scandinavian gaming scene and how our hobby is able to adapt and sell a highly-individualized experience. (This is why we invite him on the show.) Fred brings in the Ashcan Front as an example. Eventually this comes around to a discussion of the Origins seminar track.

52:48 - Before we go, Chris gives a shout out to the city of Columbus, and we all agree.

17:09 - Origins and GenCon are coming; let me know if you're going to be at either of those. At GenCon, you'll be able to find me at the Ashcan Front booth (#1940), the Podcasters Party, and my Inside The Game Designer's Studio interview with Monte Cook.

19:12 - I'm going to be traveling a lot this summer, bookended with two of the Strategicons. In between I'm really looking forward to Go Play Northwest in Seattle, hanging with Chris Hanrahan at Origins, playing some games with Doug Garrett at the West Coast Meeple Fest, and doing a ton of things (including the podcasting track that Don Dehm has organized and working with the Ashcan Front) at GenCon.

27:20 - I'll be back next week with an interview with Joshua BishopRoby about his game, Full Light, Full Steam.

35:08 - I spent last weekend at the GMT Games warehouse in Hanford, CA. In addition to playing some of their card-driven games, I also got a chance to play Down in Flames and to try GMT's new pirate game, Winds of Plunder.

15:31 - As the show was closing, four of us sat down for a game of Wellington.

17:50 - After that, it was dinner, a lost interview, and the ride home. I have a few final remarks about the convention, and you can look forward to hearing more about Full Light, Full Steam and Passages on future shows.

22:07 - Sadly, I have no Spirit of the Century review this time, but if you want more of me, check out episode two of The Voice of the Revolution and episode forty-three of Garrett's Games and Geekiness.

18:00 - Jason from Point 2 Point sums up my current feelings about playing well with others, but I go off on a bit of a rant anyway.

27:29 - Thanks to everyone who has donated to support the show! If you're in the Bay Area this weekend, come on over to Endgame where you can meet me and play some games run by the Good Omens Productions folks.

4:26 - I tell Ken the recorder is already on, so we start talking about Origins (sort of).

6:44 - Having now discussed my anniversary, we explain why we do these sorts of interviews.

7:12 - Ken and I disagree (initially) about the nature of Origins vs. other conventions.

9:00 - I tell a long and involved story about my first trip Origins.

13:52 - Ken agrees with me that one of the unique features of Origins is the degree to which fans and professionals have the opportunity to interact with each other. We talk about why that's a good thing for both sides.

17:39 - Origins has many panels. Ken was on a lot of them, and I was on one too. In this context, we discuss the Secret Origin of Have Games, Will Travel.